03-26-2009, 07:04 AM
Clusterfuck.
It was the prettiest of words, but it was the best word that Piper could think of to describe the situation in Olde Town. In a matter of a few minutes, the once elegant, slightly decadent town had been reduced from rows of condemned buildings to one massive bonfire.
The antiquated structures had gone up like dead trees---their entirely wooden frames easily fueling the collateral damage of the skirmish. The dirt and cobblestone roads had been ripped up and haphazardly strewn across the ruins like those damn ink blots the therapists would show Piper during sessions.
Worst of all, however, was how little the woman could do amidst the insanity. If the battle royale had taken place just ten minutes prior, there would have been no doubt that Piper would have been right there in the middle of it. Unfortunately, the cruel intricacies of Kai’s little game had castrated the woman right at the penultimate moment. As the town teetered on the edge—gazing down into the black hole welling up to devour it—Piper took herself out of the action…
The soldier’s blood was still on her hands. It was the woman whose name she would never know, and the woman whose hopes and dreams had been smothered with a flick of Piper’s wrist and a squeeze of the trigger.
Kaden had been helpful. He’d showed the woman something she’d rarely got from men—compassion. As the man had cradled her against his chest, Piper knew that the reading she had got from him was the truth, plain and simple. But now Kaden was off with the others, trying his hardest to curb the madness and inject a little reason and order to the slaughter and destruction gorging itself on the deserted ghost town.
At the whim of Juno, they’d all run off to save some people familiar to them, but Piper had stayed behind. Fortunately, they hadn’t noticed—they were all too driven by their own inner workings to notice Piper slowly fall behind. Even Kaden, who was usually always so aware of things around him, was too caught up in the moment to notice his redheaded companion slip around the corner of an ally and find her spot against the burned-out ruins.
As the others had drawn further away, Piper had let out a faint sigh and slumped down to the street. She had neither the fortitude nor the state of mind to jump into the fray. She didn’t trust herself to operate under the circumstances… She didn’t want to risk hurting anyone else and alienating the only companion she had left.
Or maybe you’re just afraid of yourself. Piper’s inner voice rang clear like a gunshot through the anarchy of her mind, but the redhead lacked the fortitude to listen.
As cinders rained from the heavens like a portent of the apocalypse, Piper stood cradled behind what remained of a smoldered brick foundation. Her hands were quivering slightly, but it wasn’t from the gunshot wounds. The strange blonde woman had made sure to numb her pain, and she’d done so without gauze or morphine. Whoever that woman was, she was a far better medic than Piper could ever be.
Stop beating yourself up. Fresh tears began to well up in the corners of the woman’s eyes. You promised yourself after you got here that you would start anew…that you would be a new person. A strong person.
“I’m trying,” Piper sobbed aloud as she whipped away the tears with one of her bloody sleeves. “I didn’t want any of this.”
But this is what you got. Remember what Kaden said: You’ll have time to beat yourself up after you get out of this hellhole. Stifling her sobs, Piper sucked in a deep breath of air as she tried to compose herself. People—good people—are dying out there on both sides. You have to end this. You have to finish was Szar began.
“…I have to bring Kai to justice,” Piper spoke softly, her voice a soft whisper as she responded to herself.
Go save some lives. Piper’s voice of reason spoke as a faint smile spread across the medic’s wearied features.
Standing up from the heavily disturbed ground, the redhead reached into her side pack. As casually as possible, she downed the rest of her pills and discarded both the bottle and the accessory bag. After all, there was nothing left in there that would do her any good—all her supplies and ammunition had dried up like the desert that surrounding the dying ghost town.
“No gun,” Piper muttered as she craned her neck and shoulders to look down at the small of her back. Following the incident a few blocks over, she hadn’t bothered to recover the weapon. Fortunately, at this point the woman figured it probably wouldn’t do her any good to wield a tool with such simple sway over life and death. “Have to make due,” she noted as she clenched her fists and quickly began toward the epicenter of the carnage. As she walked, she casually brushed the dust and soot from her fatigues.
Piper’s recent inhuman capabilities brought her to the forefront of the mayhem within the minute, and as she stood in the shadows between two ruined buildings, she didn’t see many faces she recalled. The woman who could heal wounds with just her hands was standing off to the side, her expression one of mild apprehension as she tried to avoid getting killed in the flurry of gunshots and energy bolts.
Unable to see Kaden, the redhead found herself staring at the young man with the tail. Was his name Juno? Either way, the boy was having his fill of the insanity—his eyes were wide with a vibrant passion and he quite literally tore and blasted his way through a squad of Kai’s soldiers. When Juno emerged from the back of the former group of soldiers, he found himself staring right into the angry green eyes of Piper Juunanagou.
“What took you so long?” The boy demanded as Piper scanned the broken, bloodied bodies that lie behind him.
Without uttering a single reply, the redhead jolted forward and brought the full force of her knee up into Juno’s crotch. He let out a slightly embarrassing yelp as he reeled back in pain, but before he could react, Piper drilled him square in the chest with enough force to send him skidding down the remnants of the cobblestone road.
“What are you doing?” Piper turned to see Sophia standing just a few feet from her.
“No one deserves to die,” the redhead replied as she took another moment to glance down at the slain soldiers. With nothing else to say, Piper walked away from the healer and continued down the middle of the road. Just a block or so ahead of her, she could see Kaden and a few other men and women fighting against a pack of grunts led by the assailant who had slain Szar, Orion, and the adolescent.
“Balrog,” the woman muttered beneath her breath as she began to jog toward the small brawl.
“Stop!” Piper’s body tensed up as she dug her boots into the loose dirt and pivoted to face the small squad of soldiers. There were three of them—all armored and all with their guns trained on the woman.
“Friend or foe?” The one in the middle declared as he jabbed his gun toward the redhead. Obviously they had seen the inflamed woman lash out against Juno, and Piper really didn’t blame them for confusing her allegiances. And although they didn’t deserve to die, the medic couldn’t deny the fact that they were fighting in the name of a very malicious man.
“Neither,” Piper muttered, prompting all three of the soldiers to arm their weapons. “I’m just Piper,” she added complacently as she vanished in a swirl of vibrant lights.
A split-second later, the redhead rematerialized behind the small team of soldiers. With a series of quick, graceful maneuvers, she disarmed the trio and proceeded to incapacitate each of them with a sturdy chop to the back of the head. As Kai’s hired guns collapsed into unconscious heaps, Piper began to sprint toward Kaden, Balrog, and all the other amalgamated warriors.
Wasting absolutely no time, the redhead made her presence known by leaping through the air and drilling the heel of her right boot into Balrog’s chest. The large, hulking warrior let out a simple grunt and stumbled backwards as the woman backflipped off his chest and landed next to her blonde-haired companion.
“Nice to see you again,” Kaden spoke softly as the group of Friend or Foe ‘contestants’ scattered in a frantic attempt to avoid behind ripped apart by the energized hail of machinegun bullets.
It was the prettiest of words, but it was the best word that Piper could think of to describe the situation in Olde Town. In a matter of a few minutes, the once elegant, slightly decadent town had been reduced from rows of condemned buildings to one massive bonfire.
The antiquated structures had gone up like dead trees---their entirely wooden frames easily fueling the collateral damage of the skirmish. The dirt and cobblestone roads had been ripped up and haphazardly strewn across the ruins like those damn ink blots the therapists would show Piper during sessions.
Worst of all, however, was how little the woman could do amidst the insanity. If the battle royale had taken place just ten minutes prior, there would have been no doubt that Piper would have been right there in the middle of it. Unfortunately, the cruel intricacies of Kai’s little game had castrated the woman right at the penultimate moment. As the town teetered on the edge—gazing down into the black hole welling up to devour it—Piper took herself out of the action…
The soldier’s blood was still on her hands. It was the woman whose name she would never know, and the woman whose hopes and dreams had been smothered with a flick of Piper’s wrist and a squeeze of the trigger.
Kaden had been helpful. He’d showed the woman something she’d rarely got from men—compassion. As the man had cradled her against his chest, Piper knew that the reading she had got from him was the truth, plain and simple. But now Kaden was off with the others, trying his hardest to curb the madness and inject a little reason and order to the slaughter and destruction gorging itself on the deserted ghost town.
At the whim of Juno, they’d all run off to save some people familiar to them, but Piper had stayed behind. Fortunately, they hadn’t noticed—they were all too driven by their own inner workings to notice Piper slowly fall behind. Even Kaden, who was usually always so aware of things around him, was too caught up in the moment to notice his redheaded companion slip around the corner of an ally and find her spot against the burned-out ruins.
As the others had drawn further away, Piper had let out a faint sigh and slumped down to the street. She had neither the fortitude nor the state of mind to jump into the fray. She didn’t trust herself to operate under the circumstances… She didn’t want to risk hurting anyone else and alienating the only companion she had left.
Or maybe you’re just afraid of yourself. Piper’s inner voice rang clear like a gunshot through the anarchy of her mind, but the redhead lacked the fortitude to listen.
As cinders rained from the heavens like a portent of the apocalypse, Piper stood cradled behind what remained of a smoldered brick foundation. Her hands were quivering slightly, but it wasn’t from the gunshot wounds. The strange blonde woman had made sure to numb her pain, and she’d done so without gauze or morphine. Whoever that woman was, she was a far better medic than Piper could ever be.
Stop beating yourself up. Fresh tears began to well up in the corners of the woman’s eyes. You promised yourself after you got here that you would start anew…that you would be a new person. A strong person.
“I’m trying,” Piper sobbed aloud as she whipped away the tears with one of her bloody sleeves. “I didn’t want any of this.”
But this is what you got. Remember what Kaden said: You’ll have time to beat yourself up after you get out of this hellhole. Stifling her sobs, Piper sucked in a deep breath of air as she tried to compose herself. People—good people—are dying out there on both sides. You have to end this. You have to finish was Szar began.
“…I have to bring Kai to justice,” Piper spoke softly, her voice a soft whisper as she responded to herself.
Go save some lives. Piper’s voice of reason spoke as a faint smile spread across the medic’s wearied features.
Standing up from the heavily disturbed ground, the redhead reached into her side pack. As casually as possible, she downed the rest of her pills and discarded both the bottle and the accessory bag. After all, there was nothing left in there that would do her any good—all her supplies and ammunition had dried up like the desert that surrounding the dying ghost town.
“No gun,” Piper muttered as she craned her neck and shoulders to look down at the small of her back. Following the incident a few blocks over, she hadn’t bothered to recover the weapon. Fortunately, at this point the woman figured it probably wouldn’t do her any good to wield a tool with such simple sway over life and death. “Have to make due,” she noted as she clenched her fists and quickly began toward the epicenter of the carnage. As she walked, she casually brushed the dust and soot from her fatigues.
Piper’s recent inhuman capabilities brought her to the forefront of the mayhem within the minute, and as she stood in the shadows between two ruined buildings, she didn’t see many faces she recalled. The woman who could heal wounds with just her hands was standing off to the side, her expression one of mild apprehension as she tried to avoid getting killed in the flurry of gunshots and energy bolts.
Unable to see Kaden, the redhead found herself staring at the young man with the tail. Was his name Juno? Either way, the boy was having his fill of the insanity—his eyes were wide with a vibrant passion and he quite literally tore and blasted his way through a squad of Kai’s soldiers. When Juno emerged from the back of the former group of soldiers, he found himself staring right into the angry green eyes of Piper Juunanagou.
“What took you so long?” The boy demanded as Piper scanned the broken, bloodied bodies that lie behind him.
Without uttering a single reply, the redhead jolted forward and brought the full force of her knee up into Juno’s crotch. He let out a slightly embarrassing yelp as he reeled back in pain, but before he could react, Piper drilled him square in the chest with enough force to send him skidding down the remnants of the cobblestone road.
“What are you doing?” Piper turned to see Sophia standing just a few feet from her.
“No one deserves to die,” the redhead replied as she took another moment to glance down at the slain soldiers. With nothing else to say, Piper walked away from the healer and continued down the middle of the road. Just a block or so ahead of her, she could see Kaden and a few other men and women fighting against a pack of grunts led by the assailant who had slain Szar, Orion, and the adolescent.
“Balrog,” the woman muttered beneath her breath as she began to jog toward the small brawl.
“Stop!” Piper’s body tensed up as she dug her boots into the loose dirt and pivoted to face the small squad of soldiers. There were three of them—all armored and all with their guns trained on the woman.
“Friend or foe?” The one in the middle declared as he jabbed his gun toward the redhead. Obviously they had seen the inflamed woman lash out against Juno, and Piper really didn’t blame them for confusing her allegiances. And although they didn’t deserve to die, the medic couldn’t deny the fact that they were fighting in the name of a very malicious man.
“Neither,” Piper muttered, prompting all three of the soldiers to arm their weapons. “I’m just Piper,” she added complacently as she vanished in a swirl of vibrant lights.
A split-second later, the redhead rematerialized behind the small team of soldiers. With a series of quick, graceful maneuvers, she disarmed the trio and proceeded to incapacitate each of them with a sturdy chop to the back of the head. As Kai’s hired guns collapsed into unconscious heaps, Piper began to sprint toward Kaden, Balrog, and all the other amalgamated warriors.
Wasting absolutely no time, the redhead made her presence known by leaping through the air and drilling the heel of her right boot into Balrog’s chest. The large, hulking warrior let out a simple grunt and stumbled backwards as the woman backflipped off his chest and landed next to her blonde-haired companion.
“Nice to see you again,” Kaden spoke softly as the group of Friend or Foe ‘contestants’ scattered in a frantic attempt to avoid behind ripped apart by the energized hail of machinegun bullets.
Quote:Vad's Whimsical Whimsicalisms: Men. Good stuff there.
![[Image: Viper-Mini-Sig-Piper.png]](http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/ThundercatsHO/Viper-Mini-Sig-Piper.png)
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning,
but anyone can start today and make a new ending.